Juri is a retired lecturer and vertebrate palaeontologist. After his retirement his interest in woodturning had a shaky start until he joined The Western Cape Woodturners Association and through the years received valuable tuition and tips from Izak Cronje, Bert Parker, Peter Nicolle and Gert Ferreira - not to mention Master classes from Phil Irons! He currently turns pendants, pencils, ball point pens, fountain pens and a variety of bowls and hollow forms, preferably from indigenous African species.